Description
This warm, musical and honest performance is based on Samir Madad and his personal story. A journey from Mazar in Afghanistan to Oslo and Larsnes in Norway. "Goodbye to the poppy, hello to the nettle". And everything in between.
In 2001, Samir was six years old and fled together with his mother, father and older brother from Afghanistan. The flight lasted two years. Since 2003, Samir has lived in Norway where he works as a youth worker, musician and photographer. But when the pandemic knocked on the door and the world shut itself in, did Afghanistan and the journey to Norway push their way forward in his mind?
In a monologue performance spiced with his own songs, Samir Madad tells of his home in Afghanistan, of the sunlight through the trees around the courtyard, and of the dramatic journey that took him to a tiny village in northwestern Norway.
"Short Years, Long Days" is a story about being invited to one's first Christmas celebration and about getting Norwegian grandparents. About discovering hip-hop, about wishing for a bunad, about living in a closet at Helsfyr. About a father who disappears. And about how the streets of Oslo could just as well have been the mountains.
Samir's story is a tale of sitting as an adult, in the silence of a lockdown, and for the very first time coming to terms with "what that kid really had to go through".
"Short Years, Long Days" had its premiere during the SPKRBOX festival at Det Norske Teatret on 15 December 2022.
Cast: Hedda Sandvig (director, script and idea), Samir Madad (performer, music, idea and script), Agnethe Tellefsen (set and lighting designer), Beatur (music consultant), Anders Siegrist (sound technician), Andreas Ohldieck (lighting technician)